It all started with a call from TD Garden management to Steve Gibbs, who's been running basketball events for decades.

Dan CagenDaily News staff

It all started with a call from TD Garden management to Steve Gibbs, who's been running basketball events for decades."What happened was back in October 2012, the Boston Garden, they approached me and asked me if I wanted to put together a college basketball event," Gibb said. "I had spent a number of years at the feasibility of putting together a college basketball doubleheader [in Boston]. I told the Garden that unless you brought in a brand name, a Syracuse, a North Carolina, a Duke, you probably couldn't do it. You look a few years ago, you had UConn vs. Gonzaga and Providence vs. BC. That drew fairly well, but it's tough to sell these events because ESPN has the rights to so many of these events and they're in charge."I was kind of partial to high school basketball. I said college is one thing, but I've always wanted to do high school basketball. I've always felt MIAA basketball doesn't get enough notice."Gibbs had been thinking about asking a site in or around Boston if they'd be interested. A local college or smaller arena may have seemed more likely to open its doors."But I said first, let's shoot for the downs and go for broke," Gibbs said. "Let's try the Garden."Luckily there were some former basketball players on the Garden management staff who had played basketball in high school and college. On Saturday, the parquet floor will feature 14 high school teams bouncing basketballs from end to end.The septet of games include St. John's Prep against Wellesley at 11:30 a.m., then Mansfield vs. Franklin at 5:30 p.m."It's a great thing," Franklin coach Dean O'Connor said. "We're lucky to get the opportunity to do it."The Mansfield-Franklin matchup that was one of the first Gibbs got for the day, and one he considered a lynchpin for the event. The Hornets and Panthers have formed a tremendous rivalry in recent years; the crowds are always big for the Hockomock League meetings, and they've split a pair of playoff meetings in the last two years.Mansfield is one of the top teams in the state."I thought there were a few teams we needed, one being Mansfield," Gibbs said. "You have to be in awe of what they've done, the style of play and their kids having a high basketball IQ, well-trained team. I thought if we had a team like Mansfield, and to me we needed a Mansfield-Franklin game. Is there a better rivalry? You could argue Central Catholic and Anover. Most people in MetroWest and South of Boston would say Mansfield-Franklin. The Mansfield coach [Mike Vaughan] was willing to give up a home game, and he was OK with it."It seems appropriate the Hornets and Panthers will meet on Causeway Street. Their meetings — the most recent a 68-47 Mansfield win at Franklin on Jan. 10 — have always felt worthy of a bigger stage."I think if you look at the other games, they want to have interest obviously," O'Connor said. "One of the reasons we got picked is because we have a good following in the town and people come out for the game, and same in Mansfield. Playing Mansfield is always a good game. It's just a good opportunity for the kids to play at the Garden."Wellesley's involvement also came with the help of a league rival. Gibbs was speaking with Newton North coach Paul Conley about which teams could bring fans with them to the North End.Conley's Tigers had just played a game at Wellesley and gave a strong recommendation. Conley provided a copy of the program Wellesley puts together for its home games and Conley remembered "kids practically on the court.""For me, to be recognized as one of my peers as feeling like he recognizes what's going on with us," Wellesley coach Glen Magpiong said. "That's nice, to get a referral like that, especially from someone like Paul who's very well-respected."The game against St. John's Prep didn't fit into the Raiders' already-packed schedule, but because Prep is an exclusion school, Magpiong could still schedule the game. The contest will count in Wellesley's record, but will not be used for MIAA tournament seeding.That allows Magpiong to make sure all of his players get the opportunity to play under the Celtics' championship banners."We're obviously going to go hard and you play to win, but from what I have said from the beginning, I carry 15 guys, and on that day, all 15 guys are going to play," Magpiong said. "So everyone has the opportunity to play on the Garden floor. It's a fantastic day for hundreds of people. We've got a fan bus, or busses actually, depending on how many kids sign up. We'll be taking all of our freshmen and [junior varsity] with us. We've got the dance team is going to be there. We're working on our pep band."Each school guaranteed it would sell 400 tickets. Neither Franklin nor Wellesley have reached that figure yet as of late last week, but O'Connor and Magpiong were both confident they would before Saturday.Tickets can be purchased for $15 at the Garden, but are available for $12 through the schools. At Wellesley, fans can buy by contacting Magpiong (magpiong@aol.com) or visiting www.whshoopclub.blogspot.com. A spot on the fan bus is $8.A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will go to Good Sports Inc., which promotes an active lifestyle and provides athletic equipment, footwear and apparel to disadvantaged young people across the country.Gibbs hopes to turn this into an annual event, perhaps expanding to include a banquet with a speaker, with Gibbs raising Jim Calhoun as a possibility."I think the key is if the games are good matchups," Gibbs said to another event. "It comes down to one thing — whether the coaches endorse us or not. I think the matrchups, Mansfield-Franklin and Wellesley-St. John's, that can be great and be awesome high school basketball."I have a passion for high school basketball. There are all these players leaving for preps and the NEPSAC, and it's wonderful to win a New England title, but that experience of winning a game or a championship or a trophy for a town, it's wonderful. I thought it would be great to put the high schools on the same stage."

Internal reviewOn Wednesday, the MIAA Football Committee met, with a large portion of the discussion centering on the new football playoff system that went into effect in the fall."It was kind of the first review of the whole process," Franklin athletic director and committee member Brad Sidwell said. "A lot of different opinions and thoughts were bounced around. As they went around the districts, there were some districts north of Boston that did not like it, and more support in the south. I would say there was a lot of tweaking that people are going to look at and see if they can make it better."One of the possible tweaks discussed was eliminating the second automatic qualifier for leagues of five or more teams in Eastern Mass. leagues. That created some drama in the lower divisions, and ended up keeping Medway out of the playoffs to make room for a team below it in the power rankings.Another discussion is making all league wins worth 10 points, rather than 12, 10 or 8 depending on the respective divisions of the two teams. There was also concern about revenue sharing and some speakers expressed a complete disinterest in the new format.Committee members will meet with their districts and convene again at the next meeting May 8 and can vote on the potential changes. …As first reported by SB Nation, Algonquin junior third baseman Ryan Solomon has verbally committed to attend Northeastern University.Solomon battled .391 with 19 RBIs for the Tomahawks last season.Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.